The Race for City Status

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In 2022 Queen Elizabeth II celebrated her Platinum Jubilee. To mark the event, a civic honours contest was held, giving towns from across the UK the opportunity to win city status. Whilst never an obvious frontrunner, the post-industrial borough of Doncaster in South Yorkshire was a winning entrant, becoming one of Britain's newest cities.

Jim Carley, who wrote the bid, recounts the campaign. His book revisits some of the unusual highlights of Doncaster's history, the proposal writing secrets that helped to see off the competition, and the wider national events which set the backdrop to the race. The story journeys from the low points, when the bid was almost abandoned, to the highs, not least the jubilant visit from King Charles III to confer Doncaster's new cityhood.

As well as capturing a historic moment for Doncaster, this book is an insightful story about our wider relationships with places, whether they be cities, towns, or villages, and what they mean to our everyday lives.